London in 2160
by Abboz
Summary: After losing track of a distress signal, the Doctor and Rose find themselves in London in 2160, the exact time and place where his granddaughter, Susan, had settled down with David. Rose is, of course, eager to meet her, knowing how important she is to him, so the Doctor happily agrees, but they're soon reminded of the reason they landed there when their meeting is cut short.


"That's funny." The Doctor leapt up from the jump seat, stepping up to the TARDIS console. He grabbed the monitor, tugging it towards him to inspect the display.

"What?" Rose reluctantly stood, walking up behind him and resting her arm on his shoulder to peer over it.

"She's picking up a signal. An alien signal."

"Well what is it?"

He met her gaze. "I don't know. Hang on, I'm gonna follow it. Hold on to that lever, keep it down." He pointed to the brass coloured control in front of her and she held onto it whilst he reached around the other side. "It might be a bit of a bumpy ride."

She laughed, resting one hand on the edge of the console to help balance herself. "You say that like I'm not used to it. Do you think we're close?"

"I don't know. It's hard to tell, maybe, I think it's a distress signal, I can't—" He stood up straight, narrowing his eyes and sliding one of the controls back and forth. "No, no, no, what? We were so close! It's not supposed to do that!"

"What?" Rose swapped her hands over on the lever, moving closer to him. The TARDIS's central column slowed and stopped, she released the control. "Why have we stopped?"

"The signal's gone. It disappeared just like that, I don't understand it."

"Maybe whoever sent it was rescued."

"I don't know, maybe, but it doesn't feel right. I need to have a look." He pressed a button and the column began moving again as the TARDIS materialised.

"Where are we then? How far did we track it?"

"I'm not sure. I think we're close to the source, there could be anything out there, we need to be careful." He grabbed her hand and ran down the ramp, flinging the doors open and heading outside. They both stopped dead; they were on a busy city street, full of people walking past, oblivious to them as they went about their lives.

"Well this is definitely Earth. Can't see anything alien about, can you? Try the sonic."

He produced the sonic screwdriver from his pocket at her request, the blue light glowing as it buzzed, and then read the scan from it. "Nothing. And no one's panicking, so there's probably no attack or invasion. Maybe you were right and they were rescued, or just left."

She looked up at him, he was still scrutinising the scene before him. "How about we take a look around just in case? Maybe we can find out exactly where we are."

* * *

"What does that paper say?" The Doctor pointed past Rose to the tattered newspaper discarded at the foot of the building.

She picked it up and read the date. "Erm, 1st February 2160. It's my mum's birthday." She laughed slightly as she looked up at him.

"2160?" He wasn't laughing, he wasn't even smiling, just gazing right back at her, expression neutral.

"Yeah, February 1st. Why? What happens in 2160?"

"Nothing. _Well_, not nothing but…"

"What?" She walked round to stand in front of him. "What is it?"

His brow creased a little. "Rose."

She placed her hand on his upper arm. "What, Doctor?"

"Susan's here."

"Susan your granddaughter?!" Her jaw dropped slightly as he nodded. "Where?" She turned around, looking down the alleyway at the people walking past, searching for a face looking back at them.

He rested his hand on her shoulder to get her to turn back. "Not here. I mean here in London in 2160."

"Oh." She wasn't sure how to react, he didn't seem to know how to react himself so she stepped forward and swept him into a hug before he could manage to over think it. "In that case, could we visit her?" She withdrew from him. "I understand if that's completely out of bounds, or you don't want to, but I would love to meet her."

He couldn't help but smile at her wide-eyed excitement. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "Of course I would."

"Okay."

"Is that a yes?"

He chuckled. "Yes that's a yes. We can visit her, but we can't tell her who we are."

"No, of course. I understand."

He gently took her hand. "Let's go then. We can come up with a story on the way."

* * *

"What's our story then?" Rose pushed open the gate to the house, stepping through and turning towards him as she held it for him to take.

The Doctor followed her through, gently closing the gate behind him. "Oh that's easy. We're a couple on a trip, the car's broken down, and we need to borrow a phone."

"That still works in the twenty second century, does it?"

He wrinkled his nose. "_Yeah_, it'll be fine."

"Right." She grinned. "Just one small problem. We don't have a car."

"Well just don't tell her that." He reached up to knock on the door, watching Rose try to stifle her laughter before they were greeted.

They heard the latch turn, the door opened, and there was Susan, wearing a plain blue dress, with her short, dark hair left loose and a little more unkempt than she was comfortable with judging by the hand running through her hair. The Doctor and Rose grinned in union. "Hi!"

Her jaw dropped for just a second and then her smile matched theirs. "Grandfather?!" She practically jumped into the Time Lord's arms, hugging him as tight as she could and eliciting a laugh from Rose.

"There goes that idea."

The Doctor hugged Susan back, brimming with joy at her enthusiasm. "How did you know?"

She sprung back. "What, you thought I wouldn't recognise you?! It's just a silly regeneration."

"But still I've changed, I've changed a lot."

"You're still my grandfather. I'd know you anywhere."

"Come here." He pulled her back into a hug for a few more seconds until Rose interrupted them with a gentle laugh.

"Doctor."

He looked over at her, smiling at the look of pride on her face. "Oh, right, yeah." He let Susan go and put his arm around Rose's shoulders. "Susan Foreman—"

"Campbell."

"Right, sorry. Susan Campbell, meet Rose Tyler."

The two women shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Rose."

"You too."

Susan watched as the Doctor gazed at Rose in complete adoration, and stepped a little closer to him. "Is she your David?"

He broke into a grin, exhaling with a laugh as he nodded. "Yeah. That's one way of putting it." He held Rose a little tighter. "Is David in?"

She shook her head. "No, come in. I'll make some tea, we can have a chat, I want to know everything."

The Doctor coaxed Rose in front of him to follow her in, and she looked back at him. "Still drinking tea in the twenty second century. My mum'll be pleased to hear that."

"Yeah, and probably claim it's still around 'cause it's world saving."

"What's that?" Susan glanced back at them as she led them through to the kitchen.

"Rose's mum, and I feel safe to say this since she'll never know, little bit incredible. Christmas Day, saves the world with a cup of tea."

Rose grinned, tongue between her teeth as she showed just how much she loved it when he was complimentary about her mum. "And she's a lot more humble about it than he likes to make out sometimes."

Leaving the tea to brew, Susan smiled at them both, loving seeing the Doctor so happy. "I knew one day you'd do domestic."

"I am _not_ domestic, thank you."

"Of course you are! Look at you two."

"She's got a point, Doctor." Rose leant against the counter behind her. "You came and had Christmas with us at my mum's—"

"I was having Christmas with _you_!"

"You always come and visit her with me too."

"Because it's with you."

She laughed. "You even took her out to distract her while I baked her a birthday cake, and enjoyed it. You are _so_ domestic."

He rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine."

Susan passed him a cup of tea. "That's not a bad thing, it's a really good thing. I am so happy."

The Doctor smiled, stepping out the way to let Rose grab her drink. "Good. That's all I ever wanted for you."

They followed the Gallifreyan woman into the living room, the Doctor taking a seat on the sofa as Rose stood looking at the photographs around the room. "Is that David?"

She walked up to her side, peering at the photo. "Yeah, that was our wedding day."

"Well you looked beautiful. I love the flowers in your hair."

"Thanks, that's a Gallifreyan thing."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, if you want maybe you could… yeah." She smiled, watching Rose take a step to her right.

She leant closer to the photo in front of her. "Doctor, look at this." She heard him rise from his seat, coming up behind her and resting his hand on her waist as he looked over her shoulder. The picture she was pointing at showed Susan with David, three young infants bundled in their arms, none of which, she thought, could be older than 18 months. She looked across at Susan. "Are they your children?"

"Yeah. They were orphaned in the Dalek invasion so we adopted them. David's taken them out for a walk."

"All three by himself?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"They're really good children, and he's really good with them, he's a wonderful dad."

"And I can see you're a wonderful mum." She smiled at the compliment. "What are they called?"

She indicated to them. "That's David Junior and Barbara."

He tentatively pointed to the third child, a second boy. "And what'd you call him?"

"Doctor."

He grinned. "Really?"

Susan burst into laughter, Rose joining in with her. "No! Of course not. He's called Ian."

"Oh." The Doctor couldn't help the laughter that crept into his breath. "I'm sure they would be honoured."

"You think?"

He nodded, and noticed Rose watching them with quiet interest. "Barbara and Ian were my first human companions. We both travelled with them."

"Oh yeah, I remember now, you did tell me."

"They were my teachers." Susan gestured for them to join her in taking a seat. "We stopped here in London for a while, but in 1963 and I pretended to be a human teenager and went to school." She smiled at the fond memory. "They followed me home one night, and came into the TARDIS, and off we went on an adventure before they had the chance to object. And we went on many adventures after that, couldn't seem to get them home."

"In my defence, I was trying. I hadn't been flying the TARDIS very long, and I didn't exactly have the best control over her back then."

"Because you're such an expert now." Rose laughed. "First time he took me away, when he took me home he told me it'd been twelve hours. It was twelve months."

"That's terrible!"

"I know! My poor mum."

The Doctor winced. "That was a mistake! I said I was sorry!"

"Well don't start making out that you're good at flying the TARDIS now then. I'm pretty sure I'm better than you."

"Yeah, because she loves you so much that you can just ask her to go where you want and she'll take you."

Susan sipped her tea as she watched them. "If you've never improved your flying, did Ian and Barbara ever get home? Tell me what happened."

"Yeah they got home, safe. They're professors in Cambridge, very happily married, family and everything. I heard they stopped ageing, though I don't know what happened with us for that to happen, but if that's true, they could still be around. Maybe you could find them."

She felt a bit dumbstruck, eyes watering and a broad grin on her face. "Do you think they'd want to see me?"

"Of course they would! They both love you dearly."

"And I would love my little ones to meet their namesakes."

"Then, when we've gone, look them up, find them if they're still here. Will you do that for me?" She nodded, starting to feel emotional and well aware that she would soon be in tears. "And if they are, would you let them know that I'm okay too, and happy, and not alone?"

"Yeah." She nodded again, touching her finger to the corner of her eye. "You know I was too scared to research them before. I was scared that what I'd find would be utterly heartbreaking, that they'd never made it home because they'd died, or one of them was left heartbroken because they'd lost the other, or maybe I'd find out they'd suffered. It probably seems rather stupid, but I didn't want to know unless they were happy, together like they wanted, just in love like I saw every day they were with us."

"That's not stupid." Rose gently smiled. "Wanting the people you love to be happy is _never_ stupid."

Susan leant her head back against the sofa, lips curling upwards. "You're right. Thanks."

* * *

Susan brought her feet up underneath her as she repositioned herself in the armchair. "I know some people would say that this isn't worth what I gave up, all the travelling and all those places you get to see, people you get to meet. But I think they're wrong, at least for me, because this is a whole different adventure, and sometimes, once in a lifetime, you meet one person, one incredible person who you just want to spend your life with, rather than lose them and see everything else."

Rose smiled. "Yeah."

"I was just lucky enough to get to see the Universe before I met David. And I am so happy. I love my life, and my family. There's just one thing I would change."

The Doctor watched her with concern. "What's that?"

"We would have had a proper goodbye."

He frowned. "Oh, Susan."

"Just a hug, and a moment to tell you how much you mean to me, and to say thank you, thank you for everything. As if all those places we visited weren't enough, you brought me to this, to David and my children. I can never express how much they mean to me, and I never got to thank you."

The Doctor reached out to her with one arm. "Come here. Come on." She slowly stood, wondering what he wanted as she made her way over to him. Once she was close enough, he took her hand, tugging on it slightly so she'd join him and Rose on the sofa. "Now, now, Susan." He gently pulled her into a cuddle. "I want you to know that you'll never have to thank me. I knew you'd be happy, that's why I did it. I wanted that moment too, and I am sorry, but I knew that was the way it had to be. I couldn't guarantee that if we were face to face, and you had the choice, that you would stay here like you were meant to."

"I already loved David then, if you'd told me to take a chance with this I would have."

"You might have, I wasn't sure. I worried that you thought I depended on you, and maybe I did a bit, but I was worried that you thought I depended on you so much that you'd think you'd let me down if you left. I couldn't have you stay for my sake. I couldn't have you give this life up for me."

She exhaled in shock. "Grandfather!"

"I wanted you to have a life of love, and stability, and a home, somewhere you belong. I wanted you to have what I never thought I'd get." He looked to his side to Rose, and found her already watching him intently, brow creased and tears in her eyes. She didn't look away, firmly holding his gaze, and he couldn't resist leaning closer and softly touching his lips to hers, calming her. "But now I have got that." He gently cradled Susan's head in his palm. "Feel better now?"

She nodded, reaching her arm around his neck to hug him. "Thank you."

He coaxed her away, taking her hand and then Rose's. "I'm really glad you got to meet each other."

Rose squeezed his hand, leaning into his side. "So am I."

"Yeah, me too." Susan turned in her seat so she could face them. "So tell me more about yourself, Rose. Where are you from? I'd say London judging by your accent."

"Yeah, 2005 originally, it's been a while though, plus there was a whole year he made me miss. So sort of 2007, at least that's where we are when it comes to visiting my mum, I think we've probably about caught up with that ourselves though."

"And how did you meet?"

She looked up at him for a second, holding back a laugh. "He actually blew my job up."

"He what?!"

"Oi!" He poked Rose's shoulder. "I saved her life! And then yeah, maybe I sort of blew the building up."

"And then he turned up at my flat. He was looking for an alien, I wanted to help. And I didn't want him to be alone."

He switched his gaze to Rose, smile spreading across his face. "And she saved the world, and me. And I just couldn't let her go."

"And now he's stuck with me." She beamed as he moved his arm to wrap it around her shoulders, tugging her closer to kiss her temple.

"That's such a great story. And I bet you have so many others too. You two, you're so beautiful together."

* * *

There was a knock at the door and the three of them fell silent, Susan looking over her shoulder in the direction of the noise. "More surprises? You two got more people hiding in the TARDIS that have come to find you?"

"No." The Doctor shook his head with a short laugh. "Not unless they're stowaways, which isn't that unlikely actually, it's happened before. But no."

She stifled a laugh as she stood. "Well I'd better go and answer it, it might be David, he's got a habit of forgetting his key when I'm in the house."

She headed into the hallway, her footsteps gradually fading to be replaced with the sound of the latch turning and the door opening. The couple heard a scream and leapt to their feet. "Grandfather!"

He bolted through the living room door, bouncing off the opposite wall with his palms, eyes wide in alarm. He made it through just in time to see Susan's terrified face disappear right in front of his eyes, just as the rest of her already had. "No, no, no, no!"

Rose reached his side, placing her hand on his arm. "What happened? Where is she?!"

He turned towards her, displacing her hand. "I don't know, she just faded away like some kind of teleportation. That signal we were tracing, must have been whatever sent that. They took her and we led them right here to her. They've got her and it's all my fault."

"Stop." She looked him in the eye. "Whether or not that's true, it doesn't matter. What matters is that we find her and get her out of there to bring her home safe. Right now she needs you to help her, for her and David and their children, okay? Come on." She grabbed his hand, tugging him out the door and quickly closing the door behind them so they could run to the TARDIS.

* * *

"Grandfather?!" Susan held her palm against her forehead, sitting up and leaning on her knees with her other arm, breathing deeply in an attempt to shift the headache and slight nausea she felt. She'd heard that transmats and other teleportation devices could leave the target feeling disorientated but the pain in her head was so much worse than she'd ever expected. "Rose?" There was no reply, she took another breath and then opened her eyes and looked up. There was a plain white wall right in front of her that matched the floor she was sitting on, and when she looked to her left there was another blank wall just the same.

A guttural clicking broke the silence. She jumped, instinctively turning and backing up against the wall. The creature occupying the opposite end of the cell was huge, and even seated on the ground, making it difficult to assess just how big, it was certainly intimidating. It possessed a short, rounded beak, and with four large paws, complete with long, sharp claws, she couldn't help comparing it to a mythical griffin, only bipedal and lacking wings. Wearing only a golden loin cloth, its leathery skin was dark green, strong muscles well defined, and it had a long tail that lay curled around it, flicking at the end where it was adorned in lighter coloured feathers. This being had black horns that curled backwards around the ears on the sides of its head, and a decorative crest surrounding its four eyes, two larger, each with a smaller one at the bottom of the outer edge. It called out to her again, her first instinct was to fear the creature, but the more she looked at it the more she relaxed, after all if it was going to hurt her, surely it already would have. She began to pity the great being, it looked bedraggled; the feathers on its forearms were ruffled, a couple of its claws broken, and its golden irises dull and hardly contrasting against the black surrounding them. This creature was a prisoner, and so was she. "I'm sorry, I don't understand you. I can't speak your language."

The creature looked back at her, it looked defeated and she wanted so much to cross the cell and reach out to it, but then she still couldn't be sure she was safe. "You speak Earth English?"

She nodded. "Yes. I live in England. I see you speak it too."

"My people speak most languages that spread across the stars like yours."

"My name's Susan." She shifted closer, reaching out to gently smooth the feathers on its left arm. "Who are you? And who are your people?"

"I am Avelina, princess of the Ahnderians, our planet is far from yours."

"Then what are you doing here?" She moved so she could lean against the wall to the side of the Ahnderian. "Assuming we're still on Earth. Do you know where we are?"

"I'm not sure, aside from in a spaceship. It was on my planet when my enemies captured me, but we've moved since then. If Earth is where they captured you then I think we must be there."

"And who are these enemies?"

Avelina stretched her back limbs, trying to suppress her irritation. "They are people like me, but not my people, not anymore. Two years ago, a group rose up, they murdered my mother and father, and took their throne. We've been at war ever since, I've been reduced to a mere rebel when in fact it is them who rebelled. A few weeks ago there were rumours that they were planning a mission to a distant planet. My beloved, Kirek, came to this ship, their base, to discover what they were planning, but he was captured. He sent a distress signal, so I came to find him, only they captured me too."

"And they put you in here? Have you seen him?"

"No." She lowered her head. "I don't even know if he's still alive. The only time I leave this cell is when they take me for torture. They're trying to break me, they want to know where we're hiding, and the secrets of the palace. I don't know how long I will last, and I fear that even if Kirek's alive, he's being treated the same, and he's been here longer. And if they use me against him, I don't know if he'll be able to fight through wanting to protect me."

Susan placed her hand on the Ahnderian's shoulder, her fingers coming to rest on the bony crest that extended onto her back. "I have these two friends, who I was with when they teleported me here. They're clever, and they'll find me, and when they get here they'll stop your enemies, whatever their plan here. And when they do find me, you'll be freed too, and we'll find Kirek. And we can take you both home."

Avelina lifted her head, and with the way her eyes lit up, restored to their full shining glory, she imagined her newfound friend would be smiling should she have had that capacity.

* * *

"Doctor." Rose watched him frantically work the TARDIS controls as she stood leaning back against the console. "Doctor, stop." He looked up at her but his hands were still nimbly adjusting the settings on various pieces of the console. She sighed, placing her hand on his arm to push him just out of reach of the controls, and moving between him and the machinery. "Come here." She took both his hands. "We've got to stop and take a second to think. Just think, where could she be?"

"I don't know. That's the problem, Rose, I don't know."

"Well we've gotta start somewhere. That signal we were tracking, what do we know about it? So we couldn't find exactly where it was coming from, but do we know the sort of range it's in from here? And what about the frequency, can that tell us something? And what about the type of signal? You said it was a distress signal, does that mean there was a message in it? That could help us, maybe we can at least find out what sent it. We've just gotta find one little thing that tells us what to look for or where to look."

He broke into a grin, drawing her closer to kiss her forehead. "_You_ are a genius. That's it, we run the recording through the TARDIS's translation system, and we know it came from something in this area, so maybe if we can find out the species we'll know what sort of technology they have, and maybe they've got a spaceship we can track down."

She beamed back. "Exactly. Here you go." She stepped out of his way, reaching for the TARDIS's monitor and pulling it round to a more useful position.

He manipulated the symbols on the screen, and Rose watched a waveform run across the screen and then fade into a diagram of the native speakers of the message's language. "They're Ahnderians. Their planet's a long way from here, I don't know what they'd travel this far for." He swept his forefinger across the monitor to switch the image for some text. "And that's a translation of the message in the signal." They both took a second to read the message. "I don't get it, it doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does. It's a love note. Whoever sent this was sending a note to their beloved. A love note in a distress signal. Look they're telling them they love them, asking them to keep safe and stay away from wherever they are, and…"

"What?"

She met his gaze. "And saying goodbye."

He gazed back at her for a second. "Well I'd bet that wherever this Ahnderian is, that's where Susan is. They've got technology, well advanced technology and that includes short-range teleportation, exactly the kind of thing that took her, and they must have a ship nearby to teleport her to."

She smiled as he reached for a couple of controls. "And I'm sure the TARDIS can track that ship down, we'll find her."

* * *

"I may be asking the obvious, but have you tried escaping?"

The Ahnderian looked across at Susan. "I would if I thought there was any point. There isn't even a visible door on this side, and obviously the only way to open it is on the other side. This cell is impossible to escape, I should know, I used to own this ship."

"Well in my experience, there's still one sure-fire way to escape, tricking the guards. I've been in places like this before, and whatever type of creature imprisoned us, there were opportunities to trick them or trap them, so we could escape."

"And you think it will work this time?"

"Yeah, maybe. How often do they open that door then?"

"A few times a day. Only for food or to take me for torture. I think I'm due a meal soon but it's hard to tell; you lose track of time stuck in here, no technology, never seeing the outside world."

"In that case you and I need a plan for when they deliver that meal. We're getting out of here."

* * *

As the TARDIS finished materialising, Rose headed down the walkway and opened the doors, the Doctor running up behind her and ushering her outside so he could close the ship's entrance. The TARDIS had landed near the edge of a clearing amongst some trees. Rose looked across the grass to the city, the space around them unusually free of people for the centre of the capital. "Isn't this Hyde Park?"

"Yep, and this is the closest she could track the ship to."

"You said it's probably a big ship so that makes sense." She walked away from the TARDIS, reaching for the Doctor's arm and drawing it towards her as she took his hand. She beamed at him and pointed into a second clearing beyond the trees behind their ship. "And there it is. It's not quite as big as I expected from what you said though." She stood looking at the silver spacecraft.

"I meant that it's nothing like a lifepod, there'll be a navigation room, a dining area, sleeping quarters, I'm not exactly sure what else but they've got to be holding Susan somewhere."

"And how are we gonna get in?"

He plucked his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. "With this. But we've got to be careful; getting into the ship could be dangerous, we don't know if they could be just on the other side of the door." He squeezed her hand. "Ready?" She nodded and they walked towards the ship together, keeping a steady pace and keeping their eyes on the ship to look out for movement. They soon reached the spacecraft, walking round it a little until they found the door. The Doctor placed his hand on Rose's shoulder, coaxing her up against the side of the ship with him. "Stay hidden for a moment, just in case they're alerted when I open the door." He held the sonic to the door control with his left hand, standing as far away from the entrance as he could should they need to escape. Turning the device on, he waited a few seconds and then altered the setting, keeping it there until they heard a click and the door hissed and began to slide to the side. He drew back from the door, reaching for Rose's hand as he watched for a sign of movement.

None of the Ahnderians emerged from the ship, and they couldn't hear any alarms, movement, or communication between the people inside. Rose shifted closer to him. "Looks like the coast is clear. Let's go."

He glanced back at her, nodding and then pulling her towards the door. Peeking inside, he looked both ways and then headed inside. "Come on, let's find Susan, she must be here somewhere."

* * *

In the cell an alarm sounded, the two women looked up at the ceiling, put on alert by the noise. Susan gradually met her friend's gaze. "What's that mean?"

"It's alright. I'm not sure why, but they set that off to let me know they're coming in. I think they've linked it to the door controls."

"Alright." She backed into the far end of the room, leaving Avelina at the other end. "Ready?"

She nodded, and they stood in silence for a few seconds, both staring at the wall, waiting for the door to appear as it opened. With a sharp hiss, the rectangular outline appeared, a blue light creeping in round the edges. The door slid out of line with the wall and to the side, the bright light overwhelming for a second until the silhouette of an armoured Ahnderian came into focus. The guard stepped in and Susan saw the great weapon in its hand, it scared her but she took comfort in the thought that this creature would be out cold before it had a chance to use it. The armed Ahnderian reached down to place a large platter on the floor, pushing it forward with its foot. "You can share that."

Susan clutched her stomach. "Can you help? I don't feel well." There was no response so she took the ruse to a level sure to get a reaction. "Please it really hurts!" She looked across to Avelina and then stepped forward, touching the guard's arm. "Please."

"You think I care?" The creature turned its head to look at her. "If you're expecting sympathy you won't—"

Susan stepped back as the princess hit the guard in the back of the head. The sentry stood stunned, losing consciousness and unaware that sympathy wasn't what she'd wanted, all she'd needed was that small movement that took their captors attention away from her fellow escapee. Avelina hit the guard again, knocking her to the ground and then crouched down in front of her unconscious form. "And I'll have this back." She unfastened the armour at the guard's waist; having seen it was adorned with the royal insignia, taken from her upon capture and claimed as a prize. She stood and put the pieces on herself, then picked up the gun lying by the guard. "Just in case."

Susan let the Ahnderian leave the cell first, following close behind for safety. "Hang on. Why did she speak in English?"

"She didn't. She was speaking Ahnderian, actually so were you when you spoke to her."

"But it was English." Her brow remained furrowed for a few more seconds until she broke into a grin. "No, I just heard English."

"You did?"

"Yeah. And that means the TARDIS is here."

"And that's good?"

Susan nodded. "Yes! It means my friends are here, and when we find them they'll help up us get out of here, and they can help stop your enemies too."

"Alright, good." Avelina glanced back at her. "But first I need to find Kirek."

* * *

The two time travellers wandered through the corridors, their search going uninterrupted but it was also unsuccessful, and they had no idea where to look. The Doctor was struggling to stay calm, his heart rates increasing, movement getting a little more frantic with every passing minute. Rose could feel how tense he was, frequently squeezing her hand so she'd squeeze back to give him the comfort he was seeking. "It's gonna be okay."

"I can't sense her, Rose. When we were in the house with her, I could feel her presence as a Gallifreyan, here in my mind." He touched his temple. "Just a little but there. And I can't now and that scares me."

"Maybe she's just guarding her mind, blocking it off like you taught me, for safety."

"Maybe." He rubbed his thumb along hers. "How can this place be so confusing? We're not getting anywhere, not finding anything useful, it's just corridors."

She tentatively smiled. "Says the Time Lord with the TARDIS."

"But that's different because she's actually bigger on the inside. This is just designed to be confusing and difficult to escape." He stopped and met her gaze. "Sorry, I know you're trying to make me feel better. You are just by being here, alright?"

"Shh." She looked away from him, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"No, Rose, I mean it. You—"

"Shh." She let go of his hand as she hushed him, holding it up to show she was serious. "I can hear something. I think I can hear someone."

"We'd better hide then."

"No, I mean it sounds like a prisoner, like someone's banging on the wall. Down here." She ran down the corridor to where a panel was fixed on the wall. It was similar to the one that had been on the outside of the ship, but showing a different series of symbols. "Look, this has gotta open something too. Try the sonic again."

"Okay, get behind me." He gently placed his hand on her waist to coax her behind him, taking the sonic screwdriver out of his trouser pocket and holding it to the control panel. The shape of a door appeared in the wall and then slid open. They waited a few seconds before both sticking their heads round the edge of the doorway. "Hello?"

They could just about make out some movement at the end of the cell and squinted in an effort to see more clearly. "Susan?" There was no response but the figure stood. "Hello? Who's there? It's alright, we're friends, we're here to help." The beast stepped forth and they backed away from the door to let it walk into the hallway.

It looked sceptical, eyes narrowed as it watched them, unafraid due to its greater height and strength, but still wary of the strangers. This Ahnderian had red skin, its black horns pointing upwards with a bend halfway up. The crests on its shoulders became decorated with orange and yellow feathers as they descended onto its back, merging into the long feathered display that hung like a tail. Rose noticed some red flecks in the creatures golden eyes as it assessed them, its sharp beak opening and then closing. "What's your name?" The Doctor stepped forward slightly. "I'm the Doctor, this is Rose. We're looking for someone. She was captured."

"My name's Kirek. Maybe we can help each other. I need to take these people down."

* * *

Avelina's ears pricked up slightly as she and Susan turned a corner. The Ahnderian looked back at her friend, picking up her pace a little but no more than the Time Lady could keep up with. "Down here. There's another cell, maybe he's here." After a few paces she started to run, quickly turning the corner at the end, Susan fighting to catch up and almost bumping into her when she stopped. She stepped forward slowly, staring at the open cell, hand tightening on the gun until she pulled her hand away from the trigger. She walked inside, knowing it was empty before she got there, hoping to find something to give her hope. She could smell her beloved in the air, and a few of his fiery feathers lay on the ground where he had shed them from a mixture of stress and the torture inflicted upon him. She picked up the feathers; Kirek had certainly been there, recently judging by his scent, but he'd gone. "They're his." She uncurled her fingers, showing Susan the feathers in her palm.

"So he was here, that's good. How long ago?"

"I don't know. Recently. We just missed him, he's gone, what if they took him for torture?"

"We'll find him. Come on."

* * *

The Doctor and Rose followed Kirek along the corridor until he held a hand up to stop them. He turned to the panel on the wall, pressing the symbols in the correct order to open the door. As it slid open, he crept inside, reaching for the weapon that lay on the table next to the wall. He crouched down, glancing behind him to tell his companions to stay where they were. He turned the large dial on the right side of the gun and then pressed a button on the left, edging forward as he held it against his shoulder to balance it. He stood as quietly as he could, using his peripheral vision to determine that there were three other Ahnderians in the room, and pointed the gun at each one in turn and fired. A bright blue, sparking sphere shot out of the weapon and struck each of his targets, and they instantly fell to the ground. He lowered the gun and turned to face the doorway. "Come in, it's safe."

They followed him into the room, looking round at the screens that displayed the view outside of the spaceship. Four control desks were placed in front of the screens, and the other surfaces around the room were covered in gadgets. The Doctor peered at one of the screens for a second. "Are they dead?"

"No, just stunned. Avelina wouldn't have wanted that."

Rose walked up to Kirek. "Who's Avelina?"

He walked across the room, placing a hand over the golden, decorative shoulder piece that was left atop a control unit. "My fiancée." He took the armour that was lying on the table to the right, pulling it on and fastening it into place. Closing his eyes, he carefully picked up the piece of jewellery and turned to the young woman. "This was hers, I gave it to her. She came to save me and they killed her. I told her not to." Kirek attached the piece to the armour at his hip, positioning it so it would fit comfortably around the curve of his side.

"Wait, that message we got, you sent that?"

"I thought you were here because you're looking for your friend."

"We are. But we only met up with her because we followed your distress signal."

"Yes." The Doctor walked over to the ship's controls. "And we still need to find her. You know this place, we need your help to find the other cells."

"I will help you. But I need to stop this lot for good. They overthrew her family, killed them and now her, I need to get revenge, justice, but she wouldn't want me to murder them."

The Time Lord walked across to them. "So we make sure they can never go back to your planet, so that you get what she fought for."

"I think she'd like that. Thank you."

"Can you control this ship? I know the coordinates of an uninhabited planet, a place with little vegetation. They could live out their lives there in this ship, and we just make sure they can never leave. All you need to do is set the ship to go there as soon as they try to fly anywhere."

"Alright." He made his way over to the controls, starting to work. "What about me?"

"We can get you home. And once we've found Susan, if we have time, we could try and find Avelina, if she's still here, so you can take her home, if you want."

Kirek nodded. "She should be with her mother and father, and I could visit her. Thank you." He stepped away from the console. "Just enter the coordinates on the keypad, and it's done." The Doctor stepped forward to do just that, and the system beeped, announcing that the coordinates were locked. "Okay. Let's find your friend. And Avelina."

"Yeah." They headed for the door and the Doctor stopped at the first screen that had caught his eye, putting a hand out to catch Rose's elbow and pull her back to him. "Hang on, look at this."

"What?"

"It caught my eye when we came in but I didn't understand why. I wasn't looking at the right thing, because you see this computer holds strategies, and plans, and orders, and look." He pressed the symbol in the top left corner of the monitor and dragged it into the centre. As he let go, the symbol faded into an image and expanded to fill the screen.

"That's Susan."

"Exactly, and I think this might be able to tell us why they took her. And it might help us find her too." He flicked his finger upwards, replacing the image with text. "See that message you sent out, Kirek, these systems picked it up too, and when we followed it, they saw us coming. And our ship's a very special ship, unique now, they wanted it and they wanted me, so they set a trap. Knowing they couldn't get into it without one of us, they watched, and waited to see what we'd do, and when we visited Susan, they realised they could use her as a hostage. I told you it was my fault."

Rose slipped her hand into his. "Stop it. It was me that asked to meet her. Come on, we need to find her."

"Yeah. Kirek, take us to those cells."

* * *

Susan and Avelina made their way down the corridor, stopping as a turning appeared on the left, and checking for danger before continuing on through the ship. "There's another couple of cells down here. I'm hoping they moved him here, or this is where they took him to try and get information out of him. I don't know, we've just gotta keep looking."

"Avelina?"

She turned on the spot, making sure to turn towards Susan so she wouldn't hit her with her tail. "Kirek?!" Her eyes widened as she saw the male, his feathered tail rippled as their gaze met and soon she was running to him. She flung her arms around him, their foreheads touching momentarily until she drew back, and noticed he looked upset. "What is it?"

"I thought you were dead." He let go of her, reaching down to the armour at his waist, where the swirling, golden ornamental jewellery was attached. He unfastened the clasp and held the shoulder piece out to her. "They showed me this and told me you were dead."

She reached a hand out to touch him and the jewellery; the piece he'd given her when he'd proposed. "I'm alright. And I'm so glad you're safe." She turned a little so he could put it on her.

"I knew you wouldn't just give it to them, so when they said you were dead..."

"They took it when they captured me." She stroked the feathers on his forearm, well aware that he was exhausted and felt weak, focusing all his remaining energy on getting them to safety so he could relax and recuperate, but then so was she. "But I'm alright now."

"I stopped them, Avelina. When these people freed me, I found our enemies and stunned them. When we leave and they try to follow they won't be able to. They can never destroy our home again. They will never hurt you again."

She pulled him into a hug, holding him purposefully tight, her forehead pressed against his temple in the hope of conveying even just a little of her love for him. "Thank you. Thank you, you're incredible. Come on. We need to go so we can end this and go home." She put her arm round him so they could lean on each other.

He nodded, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. "I love you."

At Kirek's mention of other people, Susan stepped out from behind Avelina, walking round the Ahnderians and leaning slightly to the side in an aim to see ahead. She grinned as the Doctor and Rose came into view, running the rest of the way and throwing her arms around them both. "I knew you'd come. Thank you."

"Of course we did." The Doctor withdrew and held her face in his hands. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head and beamed. "No, I'm fine! Avelina's been looking after me. Besides, I can hold my own, I'm tougher than you think."

"I know." He smiled. "But I'll always worry. Come on, everyone, let's get out of here."

* * *

The TARDIS materialised on the Ahnderian's home planet, and Rose pulled the doors open to let Kirek and Avelina step outside. They looked at each other and then back to their friends standing in the doorway. "Come on. Come and see what you helped us save." The female waved her hand to gesture for them to follow. "Go on, just for a few minutes."

Rose looked back at the Doctor. "Well I'm going even if you aren't." She took the few last steps out into the room, eyes wide as she looked around. "Wow. Look at this place, it's incredible." The Doctor and Susan walked out to meet her, both grinning as they stepped into the treasury.

Avelina laughed. "Well a princess has got to have her jewels."

"But honestly it's amazing, I've never seen anything like it, the room or the gold." Rose walked across the large window the opposite side of the TARDIS, leaning on the windowsill as she looked out. "This whole place is beautiful." The vegetation in the gardens had blue leaves, the flowers having yellow stalks and a variety of coloured petals. The planet's sun was high in the sky giving the place a warm glow, shining through the windows and reflecting off the treasure to leave it glistening. "Just amazing."

She walked across the room to a table full of headpieces and picked up a few. "We want to give you all something, as a token of our gratitude."

Rose turned back to them, returning to the Doctor's side. "Don't, that's really not necessary."

The Doctor let his gaze settle on her. "She's right, we don't take payment."

"Not payment. A gift. Please. Here." She walked over to Susan and lightly placed a gold circlet on her head, baffling her.

The Doctor grinned. "Gorgeous."

The Ahnderian moved onto Rose, crowning her with a similar sized piece, and lastly giving the Doctor a plainer crown. "You, all of you, have places of honour here." The two travellers beamed at each other, the Doctor wiggling his finger as he pointed to her circlet.

"Thank you." He tore his gaze away from his companion. "Maybe we'll come back some day, but right now we need to return Susan to her family."

"Yeah, I need to go." She stepped forward to hug Avelina. "But it's been wonderful meeting you. Good luck with everything, with your marriage."

The Ahnderian thanked her and they all said their goodbyes, Susan following the Doctor and Rose into the TARDIS so they could travel back to Earth.

* * *

Susan couldn't help grinning as she stepped out of the TARDIS, the street she lived on in front of her. "I'm home." She turned to look back at the Doctor and Rose as they followed her. "How long have we been gone?"

"Not long, about five or ten minutes." He nudged Rose as he saw her watching him. "I'm absolutely sure of it. No worried husband or children."

"Thanks." She began to walk towards her house with them in tow. "And thank you for coming to visit."

Rose grinned as she matched her pace to walk beside her. "It was our pleasure! And I'm so glad we did."

They reached the gate, and Susan pushed it aside, holding it open for the others until the Doctor reached round Rose to take it from her. He stopped there for a few seconds, leaning slightly on the gate as he gazed at the other Gallifreyan. "Susan, I need you to do something for me. Sometime in the future, something big is going to happen on Gallifrey, I can't tell you what, but whatever happens, even though I know you'll want to help, please stay away. I need you to do that for me, please just stay away. Promise me you'll stay away. Please."

She nodded, closing the space between them and hugging him tight. "I promise."

"Thank you."

She held him a little tighter. "Will I ever see you again?"

"Oh I should think so." He gently eased her away and kissed her forehead. "You should know I am so proud of you, and your children are so lucky to have you as their mum, and they are _all_ going to be amazing, because you're an amazing mother."

She wrapped her arms around his middle, resting her head against his chest. "Thank you. I'll tell them all about you. Both of you." She let go and stepped to her side to hug Rose. "It was wonderful to meet you."

"You too. I've had a great time getting to know you and I'll never forget you, it's been an incredible day."

"Yeah, look after him."

"I will."

The Doctor watched them both with pride. "She already does."

Rose slowly let go of her new friend. "Bye."

"Bye, Susan."

"Goodbye, Rose. Goodbye, Grandfather." She stepped back, bringing herself closer to the doorway, and softly smiled.

The Doctor half turned away but couldn't resist looking back at her. "Oh, come here." He took a long stride towards her and swept her into his arms, hoisting her off her feet.

Susan laughed, holding onto him, and when he put her down she had a huge grin on her face. "Bye!"

"Goodbye."

Rose gently touched his arm to turn him around and let her hand drift down to his. She let their palms touch and then held his hand, rubbing her thumb along his as she led him to the gate and then away from the house. "Thank you for bringing me to meet her."

He smiled. "Thank you for helping me rescue her."

"Come on, I've got an idea."

"What?"

"Trust me, you're gonna love it." She led him a little way down the street to a parked car, ducking behind it so they could still see the house.

"Rose, what are we…?"

"Shh, just watch." She pointed over the bonnet of the car, to where, from the opposite end of the street, David was returning home with the children.

Susan opened the door before they reached the gate, bounding down the path towards them. She grinned as the infants toddled up to meet her, sweeping them into a cuddle. "Come here, sweetheart." She kissed each one of them in turn, and then stood up, looking her husband in the eye. "It's so good to see you."

He gently wrapped his arms around her, letting her lean her head against him. "Why? What happened?"

"You don't want to know. But I'm okay, everything's alright, just wonderful." She drew him into a kiss and then let go to pick Barbara up. "I think we'd better get you three inside. It's almost dinner time, I bet you're hungry." David scooped up the boys and followed her inside, backing into the door to push it shut.

Rose nudged the Doctor's shoulder with her own. "See? Look how happy she is."

He was already beaming uncontrollably. "Thank you."

She got to her feet, grabbing his hand to pull him up. "Let's get back to the TARDIS."

* * *

Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor couldn't take his eyes off Rose. Reaching onto the console, he twisted one of the controls, bringing the ship into the time vortex to rest. He smiled as he fully turned to her, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear, and then delicately running his thumb along the pattern on her circlet as she smiled. "You know, Susan's original name, the one she was given on Gallifrey, translates to 'Rose'."

"Really?" He nodded, and she grinned even wider, trapping her tongue between her teeth. "So is that why you chose me?"

"No." He shook his head, leaning a little closer. "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

She laughed, hardly breaking his gaze. "Look at you with your crown. You look ridiculous."

"Look at you with yours. You look beautiful."


End file.
